


Up in Smoke

by CaptainBlood



Category: Football RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Arsenal FC, Bayern München, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Football | Soccer, M/M, Polish National Team, Smoking, kind of AU but yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 19:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3261704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainBlood/pseuds/CaptainBlood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What are you doing?"</p><p>The words came abruptly and out of nowhere, nearly making Wojciech drop the object between his fingers. The cool air whipped around him, his hair dancing in the breeze as the moon bore down brightly in the sky. He tried to ignore his room mate, hoping that he would go away if he didn't respond to his prompting. </p><p>"I said, what are you doing?" </p><p>The voice clarified with a hint of agitation, so much so that Wojciech could basically feel the speaker's bright eyes raking over him. He brought the object to his lips and inhaled, not caring if the other person caught on to him. These days, he didn't care about much, anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up in Smoke

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to write this in honor of Szczesny being an idiot. Bless his heart, he needs some help...or a reality check. (No hate intended, he's still fucking hilarious.) Anyway, this is short, and I haven't written anything in quite awhile so ignore the rustiness issues I'm having. I'll shut up now, onward!

"What are you doing?"

The words came abruptly and out of nowhere, nearly making Wojciech drop the object between his fingers. The cool air whipped around him, his hair dancing in the breeze as the moon bore down brightly in the sky. He tried to ignore his room mate, hoping that he would go away if he didn't respond to his prompting. 

"I said, what are you doing?" 

The voice clarified with a hint of agitation, so much so that Wojciech could basically feel the speaker's bright eyes raking over him. He brought the object to his lips and inhaled, not caring if the other person caught on to him. These days, he didn't care about much, anyway. 

"Are you kidding me? Wojciech put that out!" The other man bellowed, and Wojciech could faintly hear footsteps coming from behind him. He took another drag off the cigarette and clung to the balcony’s banister, reveling in how cool the metal felt against his hot skin.

"Make me." The goal keeper dared as he tossed his head back so he could look at the sky. What stars were visible caught his attention, briefly distracting him from the situation he was in. He exhaled. 

"Fine, I will." 

Strong arms wrapped around him, forcing his own limbs to go limp at his sides. He could fight back, he reasoned, but he knew he was no match for the other man's strength. He allowed his team mate to pluck the object out from between his fingertips. Wojciech didn't watch it fall as the other man tossed it off of the balcony. Neither moved. The goal keeper allowed himself to lean back slightly, taking some of the weight off of his own feet as he placed more pressure onto the other man's hold. The other did not let go.

"Robert, was that really necessary?" Wojciech grumbled under his breath. The wind picked up again, at first it came in a gentle breeze. But in the short time the younger man had been outside it had sped up significantly. 

"It's supposed to storm." 

Wojciech nodded his head and didn't question why Robert seemed to know what he was thinking. It was something he had grown slightly accustomed too. 

"I see." He retorted dully, eyes still focused on the stars that shone like diamonds against the dark black abyss above them. The arms that held his to his sides loosened, but didn't vanish completely. 

"You've got to stop doing this to yourself." 

Wojciech's eyes widened but he still didn't allow himself to spare a glance at the man that was holding him close. The young keeper grimaced, _as if you know what's best for me._

"Why? Maybe I like smoking." Wojciech hissed in sheer annoyance, he couldn't understand why Robert always had to pry. It wasn't as if his smoking made the Polish striker's life any harder, so he couldn't possibly fathom why he always felt the need to make comments about it.

"You're killing yourself." Robert stated with a matching tone, his arms tightening to their original firmness as he pulled the younger man even closer to his self. 

"Maybe I like killing myself." 

Wojciech took the noise of shock that emitted from Robert's throat as a small victory. Any opportunity he had to take someone's breath away, he would take. It had been awhile since Wojciech felt good about himself. A _really_ long time, actually. At first, it was a slip of form. Then came the infamous smoking incident which he would own up too entirely, he had been frustrated and stupid, and acted out accordingly. Then it was one thing after another, after another. He found himself slipping up every chance he was given. He lost his confidence, lost his place in his club's starting eleven; and even found himself playing amongst the reserves for quite awhile. He begged, pleaded even for another chance; or for a chance to go seek pastures anew, but his plea's fell on deaf ears and not a club in the world wanted him. 

He wished he had someone to blame for his actions. He could always blame his ex-girlfriend, the one who walked away as soon as his _fame_ fell through the cracks. Yes, he was still famous now, but it was for all the wrong reasons. He wanted to blame his father for opening his mouth and insulting his team mate's but what good what that even prove? He wanted to blame someone because he didn't want to take responsibility for what he had done. Which he realized was just as idiotic as his prior actions. But he couldn't help himself. He wasn't happy, and figured he should do whatever he could to take away from that fact. He couldn't fix himself if he tried. 

"Wojciech, don't you ever say something like that again, do you hear me?" Robert asked with a hint of worry laced with sincerity as he rocked them back and forth slowly, something the younger man reasoned was supposed to be soothing.

"I'm sad, though." Wojciech noted through a small smile, one as fake as some of the headlines English media ran about him. Not like he needed any extra hate. No, he was good in that department on his own right; he made people hate him without even trying. Not that it was something he was entirely proud of. Hell, he wasn't proud of anything anymore. 

"I know you are...but you're giving up on everything so easily." Robert answered with persistence almost as if to say _you can still fix this._ But those words never rolled past his lips. 

"Because what's the point of trying? Maybe I like being sad, Robert. Maybe I deserve it, and maybe that's the only way I can live with myself." Wojciech found his eyes growing wide again as the words danced off of his tongue. It was like he couldn't stop himself from pouring confessions into the air, he couldn't close his mouth, or bite his tongue. He had no control over himself, especially not when Robert was the one asking all of the questions. 

The dark haired striker had a way with words, at least Wojciech thought so anyway. It seemed like Robert could get whatever he wanted just by being polite, and his own lack of self control began to prove that statement true. Anyone that said a bad thing about the older man clearly didn't know him personally. He was possibly the nicest person Wojciech had ever met, and if that wasn't enough, he was also genuinely eager to help people. The goal keeper realized then that maybe he should actually listen to his advice. If he had any to offer.

"Nonsense, you don't deserve anything of the sort; but you're not exactly helping the situation either. You need to stop being so hard on yourself for starters, and secondly, stop smoking. Young kids probably looked up to you prior to this situation and by doing this your being a bad role model-"

"I don't want to be a role model." Wojciech interrupted with a huff of air as his eyes closed. "I wouldn't be a very good one either." 

"Don't interrupt me just so you can disagree with me. I want you to listen to me, okay?" Robert's words were soft and sincere, which the younger man would admit did help him feel more at ease. Wojciech nodded his head and relaxed into the older man's hold, which went from firm to gentle once again.

"Now, if I was you what I would do is apologize-" Wojciech opened his mouth to protest but Robert poked him hard in the ribs to silence him. "Apologize to your coaches and to the fans, and promise to clean up your act. Once you get that out of the way, you need to spend more time training. Keep your head down, keep your eyes trained on the goals you had set for yourself originally and stop all of this nonsense. You have the potential to be such a wonderful goal keeper and you lose sight of that because you think you already are a wonderful keeper." Wojciech pouted and pretended that the other man's words didn't sting. 

"You are not the best goal keeper, Wojciech. But who say's you can't be? You just have to want it, and you have to work for it. And you can't do that if you're smoking and getting into disagreements with your coaches. End of story. Your job is to be a damn fine keeper, and you need to fulfill that demand once again if you want to save your career and your head. Do you hear me? You're a talented guy, I just wish you'd be more humble about it. Look at what happens when you aren't." 

"You're right..." Wojciech whispered under his breath, "you're so right." 

"I usually am, aren't I?" Robert answered with a laugh, one the younger man smiled at. 

"What ever happened to staying humble?" Wojciech joked as a shiver ran up his spine, the temperature outside had rapidly began to decline and he couldn't begin to place when he had felt this chilled before. 

"Let's go in and get some sleep, all right?" Robert proposed as he dropped his arms and instead took the initiative to grab Wojciech by the arm and pull him inside. Not even bothering to wait for an answer. The pair tossed their jersey's into a lone hamper that laid in the closet of their lavish hotel room before pulling proper sleeping attire out of their respective suitcases. Robert opted to just pull a pair of sweats on over his hips, while Wojciech insisted on wearing a long sleeve shirt, and a pair of flannel pajama pants. One's Robert chuckled over.

"Shut up, I get cold easily." Wojciech whined as he wondered how on earth Robert could sleep shirtless in the dead of winter. The hotel room wasn't cold, but it certainly wasn't warm either. 

"Wanna push our beds together like we usually do?" Robert prompted as he picked the bed side table in between the mattresses up with ease. Wojciech watched on enviously, wishing he had the willpower to build muscles the way the striker did. 

"Sure, I hate sleeping alone as you already know." The goal keeper said with a laugh as he pushed his mattress forward so it met Robert's. The latter flipped the lights off before drawling the shades closed, while Wojciech picked up the television remote and made himself comfortable on the makeshift king size bed. Robert plopped down beside him a moment later, both watching a repeat of a basketball game that they had already seen earlier in the day. 

"I've missed you." Robert said softly at some point after the game went into half time. Wojciech could tell the striker's eyes were still fixated on the screen ahead so he didn't dare turn to face the other man.

"I've missed you, too." 

The words hung thick in the air, neither said a word but instead settled for moving closer to one another. Eventually Wojciech ended up with his head tucked onto Robert's shoulder while the other man had an arm wrapped firmly around his waist. 

"Are you going to take my advice?" Robert asked when the play resumed, exhaustion leaked into his usually monotone voice. 

"Of course, it's not like I have any other choice." Wojciech whispered in response, his own eyelids growing heavy as he reached around blindly for Robert's hand, which he eventually found. 

"I'm proud of you, you know?" 

The question went unanswered when Wojciech found himself too tired to reply, but before he slipped into an unconscious oblivion he allowed himself to smile. 

-

When Wojciech made his way out of the training ground on what had proved to be a rainy Friday afternoon, he fished around in his duffel bag until he found what he was looking for. His pack of cigarettes. He smirked as he looked the red and white packaging over, eyes picking up on all of the labels and general warnings before he tossed them into the nearest trash can. He knew it wasn't a big change...but it was a start. 

"I'm proud of you." Robert repeated the same line he had the night prior, but this time  
Wojciech hadn't been expecting such a praise. With a grin he nodded his head in appreciation before running to catch up with the Polish striker who had waited for him. He knew it was absolutely impossible, but his lungs felt clearer already; and his breaths seemed to come easier. 

Despite everything he had caused and everything he was yet to atone for, he had never felt more relieved.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me something if you're feeling so kind. XO.


End file.
